Rhonda Byrne’s Dirty Little Secret

The full story of how Rhonda Byrne turned a positive thinking realization into “the greatest success story in the annals of viral marketing”-–to quote The American Spectator-–is only now emerging in court papers filed in the US and Australia, and from interviews with the participants. To Byrne, it’s the story of a small group of people bringing “joy to the world”; to some of those involved it’s a story of hypocrisy and ruthless double-dealing.

Like many of her public utterances, the message that Australia’s platinum-haired self-help guru Rhonda Byrne sent out last November to her millions of followers was a rhapsodic outpouring of goodwill. Thanksgiving Day was approaching in the United States, where Byrne now lives in a Californian celebrity enclave just up the road from Oprah Winfrey’s 17-hectare, neo-Georgian estate, and the creator of the New-Age blockbuster The Secret wanted to remind the world about the crucial importance of gratitude.

“Remember,” Byrne wrote, “if you are criticising, you are not being grateful. If you are blaming, you are not being grateful. If you are complaining, you are not being grateful.”

Those are worthy sentiments, but it was an odd time for Byrne to be expressing them because her lawyers had just sued two of the very people who were instrumental in launching her book and film The Secret to phenomenal success. Drew Heriot, the Australian director of the movie, and Dan Hollings, an Arizona internet consultant whose “viral marketing” helped propel Byrne to global fame via Oprah, had both been demanding that Byrne pay them a share of the estimated $US300 million revenue they claim she’d promised them. In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, Byrne’s lawyers had counter-attacked by launching legal actions against both men in jurisdictions far from their homes, a tactic one judge has since described as vexatious and harassing.

For a woman whose central message is the power of positivity, Byrne has a surprisingly long history of such bust-ups, stretching back to her days as a television producer in Melbourne. But those past disputes pale next to the legal storms swirling around The Secret, a New-Age marketing phenomenon the like of which has not been seen for decades. It’s a bunfight of cosmic proportions that has drawn into its orbit some of the best-known figures and most fundamental tenets of the global self-help industry…

I used to be a “believer” of the secret. Now, I am a practitioner of “the secret” without getting scared by the “superstition portion” of it. The new age slogan “you create your reality” does indeed have great merit without getting into the quantum-reality debate.

Your mind has superb information processing capabilities. It can generalize, distort, delete any information it sees fit. If it doesn’t, we would suffer from information overload. Each of us create a map of reality inside our mind. You create your map of reality, and if you change the map, you change reality itself. Robert Anton Wilson called this “Reality Tunnel” in Prometheus Rising.

Now, “reality tunnels” are positive feedback mechanisms. If you adopt a “positive” reality tunnel, you will behave in a very different way than if you adopt a “negative” reality tunnel. This is the “secret” within The Secret.

Is the “law of attraction” true? We would never know. Everything is a perspective, a map of reality. When you believe something too much, you become dogmatic, and you lose track of the magic of living. If you’re happy, enjoying the “abundance” the universe provides you, life will treat you well.

Oh ya, if you haven’t truly realized this yet: money doesn’t always bring happiness. Happiness is within you. If “law of attraction” is true, the Secret lady doesn’t is attracting what she’s looking for, “money”.

How about the following novel thought: that the mentality created by “The Secret” largely contributed to the current economic crisis; and that an associated mentality existed in the 1920’s which led to the Great Depression.

This is from a book titled THE SCOURGE OF OUR TIME: The Demise of Critical Thinking in the Age of “The Secret” written before the economic collapse which argued that the mentality associated with it is economically dangerous as it nurtures a virtual consumerist psychosis. It also points out how the entire project is a well conceived scam and that such scams were also very prevalent during the 1920′s. The $50 billion Madoff fraud also being a particular example of this greater psychosis.

Newton,
I read and enjoyed “The Scourge of our Time”. Personally, I would like “The Secret” to have all the respect it deserves–which is more than nothing, but less than it receives now.

I see “The Secret” as a set of mismatched abstractions, compiled without reason or rigor for nakedly selfish ends. Taken point by point, its statements are sensible–I could defend them myself. Put together…well, suffice to say they were not put together properly, from my viewpoint.

As for its classification, I might have chosen “Ponzi scheme”, but your “black magic” is apt.

And you’re right, it does not deserve the attention it is getting—but yet it did end up as an all-time bestseller, and still selling strong.

I merely used it to point out how these fraudsters operate–that is, by grossly distorting and omitting the facts. I personally think that this type of distortion is becoming an epidemic, but more alarming is that we are idly sitting by while fraudsters are operating with impunity — from the church to Wall Street to Washington – and is indicative of the underlying cause of the economic crisis.

In regards to the financial catastrophe that has only just begun, I do not regard inaction as the problem. The problem is that we as a society are complicit, and we will do almost anything–pay almost anything, to anyone–to avoid acknowledging that.

We blamed the short-sellers, and lost. We paid to blame the banks, and lost again. Next, the Chinese?

And I wonder: who but the guilty would buy an injunction to “think only positive thoughts”?

You’re absolutely right, we are collectively complicit and unless we change…

But the problem with taking responsibility for one’s role in a ghastly manmade apparition of this magnitude, is that acknowledging one’s own complicity, and then to do the necessary painful work to affect the required change, is just too damn awfully negative to contemplate… and thus it is just better to blissfully remain in the dark, albeit that it is shrouded by false positivity.

In my book, this is pure unadulterated cowardice.

True positivity as Barbara Ehrenreich pointed out in The Pathologies of Hope, after all, is about “ac¬knowledging the lion in the tall grass, the tumour in the CAT scan”, and then to devise one’s actions accordingly.

Another word for this is to be brave in the face of utter destitution.

Perhaps Obama will bring some realism to your country, but it again appears – based on the mass hysteria I’ve witnessed – that the expectation is that he will wave a magic wand once he gets into office, and the nightmare will be over… Poor guy, Americans are already setting him up for failure by their expectations.

Nevertheless he’s the only true hope we have at this time (even for me watching this unfold from the southernmost tip of Africa), and we may just as well hang on to any real hope we can find. That is, as long as it is backed up by a clear and cogent plan…

Chris, I’m honored by your entry in Steve Pavlina’s (black Magic) forum. The comments are interesting and very revealing about the “Psychosis” which I referred to in my book. What is most revealing is that vociferous punting of magic ((black or white), and that there appears to be a pervasive belief–as I indicated this being similar to the period before the great depression.
Finally, there are two further links to consider. The first is a New York Daily News article titled The poison of positive thinking: How self-help culture helped create the credit crisis (http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/12/26/2008-12-26_the_poison_of_positive_thinking_how_self.html). Interesting, but I do think the author, Steve Salerno takes the self-help argument a little too far (at least in another book (Sham: How the Self—help Industry made America Helpless).
The other is a great audio which clears all the associated issues (http://selfhelpfraud.com/uploads/Anti-Secret_Teleseminar.mp3).

What about hard work? unforeseen circumstances? limited resources? If Bob sits on his sofa all day with a beer and starts wishing for champagne and a mansion, will it just appear? It’s an unbelievably rose tinted and fantastical message. But I suppose it is what most want to hear, hence it’s selling.
The Secret = Rhonda is laughing all the way to the bank.
On another note, I do think (on a realistic level) positive thinking does change our behaviour, and behaviour affects our interraction with others. But this is obvious!

Mariana, “wishing” has nothing to do with it, but from watching The Secret I expect a large percentage of people will think that is all there is to it. In reality that synchronistic flow that allows you to intuit the connections between you and your desires is a completely different state of conciousness than sitting on the sofa and wishing. I expect and extremely small percentage of people who watch The Secret will ever achieve it. So they’ll just end up wishing.

Amina, you made a very good point. Very often positive thinking has the exact opposite effect. For instance one of the greatest psychologists of our Time, Viktor Frankl, suggests that for some people, especially those who tend to be somewhat anxious in their nature, it actual helps to intend that negative things must happen to one, he calls it paradoxical intention. Anyways, I’ve just posted an article on my blog written in 2007 titled Think Negative!, warning about the effects of positive thinking, including a major economic meltdown, and that the war in Afghanistan had essentially been lost because of positive thinking—see http://open.salon.com/blog/newfort/2009/12/04/negative_thinking. Makes you think, doesn’t it? Anywasy, it’s not about negative thinking, but rather, Critical Thinking.

It’s entirely simple to perceive that “The Secret” is nothing but a phenomenon of the Oprah effect. Ms. Bryne’s book and ultimate secret would have languished on the shelves without the first lady of day time TV. It is sad that so many, mainly women, allow Oprah to do their thinking for them without even critically reading the book from a standpoint of actual reality.

Ms. Byrne has become the latest version of what was once called, “The Snake-oil Salesman,” and she is a superstar of her chosen profession. A simple Googling of her name will reveal that she has violated most of her own statements of the ramifications of “the Secret,” via statements, press releases, and now, lawsuits to prevent the sharing of her profits with those that helped her achieve this level of celebrity.

In reality, there is no secret to life’s successes or failures other than what the most famous of innovators once said:

““Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” T.Edison

Nothing magical about making it through life: its work, its hard work, and its demands persistence. Just thinking about what you want without a plan or action is simply “sitting by the dock of the bay…” watching life pass you by each day.

Wake up, people, you are making Ms. Byrne’s life goals come true by buying her “re-packaged feel-good speech,” where as the money would probably be much better placed in a “solid 10 year performing” mutual fund and working to place more monies right after it.

For once said by CJ Stoneman, “true-believers will never accept the fact the its not the emperor that is without clothes, but his subjects left naked and disillusioned.”

I hit rock bottom in my life and was thinking negative “all the time”. When I first watched The Secret, I thought it was too good to be true, however, I figured, even if this is not for real and it’s to good to be true, i wanted to give it my all and follow it. I mean, I was already at rock bottom, what harm can it do? Well, I not here writing this because I am promoting The Secret in any shape or form, but when I followed it, I was amazed to how my life started to get better and my dreams, “that In thought were only going to be dreams”, really started to happen. Coincidence to some people, but too many great things worked for me for me to believe that.

Rafael, I suppose different strokes for different folks, and I’m glad you found yourself in this way.

I however think you are confusing positive thinking with being a positive productive human being. The Secret suggests we only need focus our attention on the positive – that is to think happy thoughts while focusing on our vision (in other words daydreaming) – and the universe would take care of the details for us. This is not being positive, but delusional.

Being positive requires we face the full scope of what is required to achieve our goals, in particular focusing more the worst case scenario, and yet having the courage to continue despite the negative may happen, but secure in the knowledge that we have done the work to ensure a positive outcome. To still continue with a venture not having done so believing the universe will protect us is simply foolhardy.

Professional stuntmen are a good example, the reason why they me alive and others not, is because they prepare themselves for the worst case scenario, many are even compulsive about the potential risk, and only once they are certain they fully understand it and made every precaution to avert it, will they continue.

And how many people actually died from this statement in the book: You don’t have to fight to get rid of disease. Just the simple process of letting go of negative thoughts will allow your natural state of health to emerge within you. And your body will heal itself. Oprah actually had to issue a public warning on her show because of the number of people who stopped taking their cancer meds because The Secret would effortlessly cured them.

But how many actually did not heed this call, and most likely died because of this?

See, being positive is about enduring whatever our healing requires, and to make every effort needed to lift our limbs, even if it screams at us in agony, in order “to feed the children”. It’s not being positive to sit bang and send positive vibes to the universe that it may magically cure one. Indeed it’s the antithesis of it.

And what about the dozens, who either became very ill or died at James Ray of The Secret’s sweat lodge—that is after having duped 60 of them of $10 000 for a five day sweat lodge retreat, that more than half a million dollars for less than a weeks work, and are now investigated for murder.

See, the fact that you may have had a positive turnaround doesn’t change the fact that Byrne and her cohorts have raked hundreds of millions from one of the most elaborate scams ever devised, and are laughing all the way to the bank because of it.

BTW: I trust you will stay positive regardless of what I had just written as positivity truly is a choice despite any circumstance which has or are yet to befall.

Newton, I completely agree with you. They do specify on the dvd, that it’s based on “strong feelings” and not “wishful thinking” Yes, if your daydreaming of what you want and not having the “strong feelings of already accomplishing”, then “delusional” is the perfect word to use.

They also state in the dvd that if people could die by not taking their medication, they should continue to do so, while they explore mind healing.

It is common sense to “most people”, that if you’re feeling good and happy, you will attract more of it and miserable people will attract more misery.

What I understand about The Secret is that if you focus on “the feelings” not so much “your wishes” but how you “feel” if they came true “even if it’s ridiculous” you will manifest “a possibility” or a “direction or action to take to help you get what you want” whether, it’s a connection from a friend, stranger, etc. and then act on it. Otherwise an opportunity could slip through your fingers.

I am not trying to justify or negate your response in anyway, I am just stating that feeling good does work with the law of attraction.

Raphael, I also do not wish to negate your response as I recognize that there are many forces at play to achieving our goals, not least of which is a belief in our abilities.

Our emotions however are about how we govern our life and are not necessarily about achieving our goals. An interesting coraaly which completely contradicts The Secret is that the most miserable people are in most cases the most financially successful. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and a high degree of perfectionism is probably the most important personality characteristic to becoming a billionaire than almost anything else.

And what about the string of Hollywood deaths over the past year (Jackson, Ledger, Murphy)? In fact in all cases they overdosed on high levels of anti-anxiety medication, but also pain medication as well.

And what about this from the book:

The Law of Attraction is a law of nature. It is as impartial and impersonal as the law of gravity is. It is precise, and it is exact.
Everything that surrounds you right now in your life, including the things you’re complaining about, you’ve attracted. Now I know at first blush that’s going to be something that you hate to hear. You’re going to immediately say, “I didn’t attract the car accident. I didn’t attract this particular client who gives me a hard time. I didn’t particularly attract the debt.” And I’m here to be a little bit in your face and to say, you did attract it.

Since then Byrne intimated that those who died in the South East Asian Tsunami (all 230 thousand of them), must have died because they had attracted it, that based on the LoA, they must have been on the same frequency as the event. This is the most insensitive inhuman comment I’ve ever heard.

Again, what works for your works for you, and that’s OK. I’m merely advancing the argument as many are now seeking remedy in “The Secret” to get out of the financial crisis, but it is the very last place they should turn to if they indeed are to even stand a remote chance of doing so.

I found it frustrating that when discussing The Secret, its proponents always wanted critics to ignore what it actually says, and focus on “what it really meant”–which was apparently reasonable, sound, and contradictory to the text. This response was merely the last in a tragic chain of fallacies, disappointing but unsurprising. Nobody wanted to stop the gravy train.

But now the wheels have fallen off. And here is the funny part: Rhonda Byrne would probably say–from behind the secure gates of her California mansion–that this world got what it intended, attracted, and deserved.

The Secret was the worst thing to happen to the Science of Getting Rich which was the book that supposedly changed Rhonda’s life. But, it was a book about personal responsibility, gratitude and above all taking action. The word attraction is not in the SOGR, but action is in it 53 time.

I was going to write something in defence of Rhonda, but then I would be wasting my time against all the negative comments on here. Instead I will say this; Be happy in all that you do. Turn away from what you think is a rip-off or simply doesn’t please you. Don’t focus your energy on something that is clearly getting you all twisted and angry, but at the end of the day it’s clearly something that has been written to make you happy. Take it as you will, but either way you are right.

Interesting you brought up the topic of happiness as the pursuit of it is key to how con-artists like Joe Vitale and James Arthur Ray manipulate their following. Here’s an Extract from my manuscript titled Happiness Delirium if you are interested.

You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief. But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound. – [Kahlil Gibran]
Wen arguing against the views expressed in The Secret one of the major obstacles is that it is incredibly difficult opposing a message that suggests one should focus exclusively on the positive.
The primary objection of this work however is that this requirement is far too limited and misleading. And I’m certain, purposefully so. In fact merely arguing the obvious demerits as was done in this work, is seen as such a negative act. As such, despite that various aspects of the message were targeted, this analysis unavoidably had to be an act of also shooting the proverbial messenger instead of only the message.
It is important to appreciate that by not seeing the negative clearly for what it may be, or potentially could be, is to be in denial of reality as it actually is. It rather is incumbent on us to face our reality squarely, whether positive or negative, but with the intention to turn our negative circumstances around that we may yet triumph despite any adversity.
This in truth should be the only definition of what it means to be positive. And intrinsic in this is that we are often required to make incredibly painful choices (otherwise known as sacrifices) that may increase our state of discomfort in the immediate future. On the other hand a false sense of positivity may only delay a cataclysmic string of events which will inevitably snowball into a future disaster.
My admittedly limited personal life experience suggests that true spiritual growth cannot be rushed. And when one is in the valley of one’s life it most often does not aid one’s growth by attempting to avoid or sugar coat the way things are at that time. In fact those circumstances must be seen for what they are; requiring we garner the inner strength to overcome life’s obstacles and setbacks that we may reach even higher psychological heights than before.
While this may be a noble requirement, the problem with our time is that the pursuit of happiness – a freedom enshrined in the American constitution – is increasingly becoming the object of many people’s striving. It has become the destination so to speak.
To cite a particular instance, I recently heard someone remark that a dear friend of hers was diagnosed with terminal cancer and that she only had a short while to live. However as per The Secret, she did not let this circumstance interfere with her current state of bliss. Instead of focusing on the impending loss of her friend, used the methods she learnt to turn her feelings of loss around by rather focusing on the beautiful memories she and her friend had shared. But also to send positive mental vibrations into the universe for her friend to be cured.
Though as much as one may feel good in the moment in doing so, one nevertheless is living one’s life in denial of reality as it is presenting itself at that time.
I say this because the appropriate response based on the medical diagnosis, should have been to accept the inevitability of the condition, and to mourn the impending loss. And certainly not to think or find methods to get oneself out of the painful reality of that circumstance. The reality predicament at the time requiring she identify on the deepest level with that loved one. Though to still find the courage from within to be strong for her and to do whatever was in her power to make those precious last moments as joyous as can be. But not for her own sake. It is to accept that then was not a happy time. And as such it was incumbent on her to put her own need for momentary happiness aside. Instead to fully avail herself deeply with somebody she was supposed to have had a profound kinship with.
And after all, the good memories are not for now, but when her friend had passed on, and through which she would very much remain alive for as long as one was still alive to cherish them.
Ultimately the pursuit of happiness should not be what our life’s journey is about. In fact the pursuit itself has become the very reason many Americans (in particular) tend to be unfulfilled though may present a happy façade to the world. It very much is analogous to searching for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow while the rainbow was the pot of gold all along.
The following extract taken from Wellbeing, one of the Art of Living Series, titled Happiness in a Mad World by English writer/philosopher Mark Vernon PhD, provides a sense of the overall folly of merely focusing on the external object of our desire, and which we believe will be the cure to our existential ills.

Psychologist Oliver James, author of Affluenza and now The Selfish Capitalist, believes that the madness does not just stem from Freud’s tension between the individual and civilisation, or from Eliot’s observation that we have to put on faces to meet faces, but from the fact that politics has gone profoundly wrong in the English-speaking world.
We have been infected by affluenza, the notion that our most profound psychological needs – for security, intimacy, autonomy – can be met by things, decisions, actions that cannot possibly meet them. The sex addict is emblematic: they long for intimacy and seek it in promiscuity, the very action that prevents intimacy. James has assembled evidence to show that the people who suffer most from mental illness are those who suffer most from status anxiety, as Alain de Botton put it – the desire or pressure to be beautiful, famous, wealthy…
Why should this result in poor mental health, that is unhappiness?
Advertising tells us this by manufacturing desire and keeping images of how the rich live in front of us… It leads to massive debt – personal and corporate – and a fear-based career as you struggle to earn to pay the mortgage. It undermines intrinsic values… It is a bleak picture, one of massive collective neurosis… The implication is that we are missing the good life even as we think we are pursuing it…

A similar sentiment is iterated by Frankl in the forward to Man’s Search for Meaning.

Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person (or persons) other than oneself.

Happiness must happen: you have to let it happen by not caring about it.
The trick with happiness, therefore, is a very simple one: it is never to expect it, but to delight in it whenever it comes.
Or put another way: if your life isn’t about being happy, you likely are already happy.
I’m sure that, if the American founding fathers were to look back on the consequences of that clause, they probably would’ve realised the monumental error they had inadvertently made. Yet I don’t propose it be scrapped any time soon, but rather that it is incumbent on us to make the necessary mental shift that happiness may indeed ensue.

By the way, if you think I’m personally am unhappy for having these views you can take a look at this.

I will have to read your book. I actually wrote an article entitled the Secret was the Worst Thing to Happen to The Science of Getting Rich. The SOGR is actually enjoyed and found helpful. The word attraction is not mentioned one time in the SOGR, but the word Action is in there over 50 times. Yet, the Secret crowd thinks the SOGR the supposed inspiration for the Secret is a book about the LOA. I actually got banned from a SOGR forum which morphed into a LOA group. Thanks for posting your book.

Gerry, I concur, and had in fact commented to this effect on page 8 and 13. Byrne never intended to name Wattles as her inspiration as it was meant to be the deity “Abraham” channel by Esther Hicks. However Hicks withdrew from the project, perhaps because she smelt a rat or did not want to share in the spoils, so the SoGR was a conveniently substituted as the supposed inspiration behind her con. Incidentally Wattles was quoted 3 times in the book and Joe Vitale of Hypnotic Marketing fame was quoted more than 250 times—this is because the book itself is Hypnotic Marketing.

I don’t know, but The Secret has really inspired me towards a more positive view in life. I guess an advice I would give is to know the story behind The Secret first before giving any assumptions. If you want to know more about The Secret, please do visit:

I’m sorry Steph, I’m not will to give my contact details to get more spin on Byrne when I do know so much about her already. She can claim anything she wants to in order to market her ideas, it doesn’t make it a good philosophy, and because she got rich because of marketing/selling The Emperor’s New Clothes (and it literally is), doesn’t mean you will. Consider these emails I received to know just how dangerous this philosophy is–To Hell and Back.

To put it quite simply, fall for it at your own peril, because, once you’re in it, you’re stuck and you’ll convince yourself how wonderful it is, even though your world may be crumbling apart from under you. Even some of the dying victims of James Ray of “The Secret” (the second biggest contributor) defended him, even though he just idly stood by watched his victims die. The bottom line is that it’s brainwashing, and you take it on at your own psychological and material peril… It’s definitely not a formula for success or getting rich at all (particularly in an economic crisis), but indeed, it’s the very opposite…

All the people who don’t believe are those who fail and now is criticizing.

Go ahead. I can say I found my fiancé, healed my knees, my back and my vision. I live in a big house, 4 years after watching and these are only my first and big goals, now besides that A LOT HAS happened.

I can only feel sorry for those who didn’t achieve. Poor you. Poor negative you

May, those lines seems as if it is a direct recitation from the book. Must we believe these things just because you say it’s so, there a millions of people on the making all sorts of claims to sell their wares or their philosophies. And if it is so that these things indeed did happen, good for you, and count your blessings, but believe me, a healthy cynicism is the only way to navigate this murky new world in.
Let me share some emails from two people who responded to my book.

I’m writing first and foremost to thank you for your enlightening manuscript on The Secret. My brother has been smoking a lot of marijuana, and believes in The Secret completely, and is now following a creep Bashar from a documentary called “Tuned in”. The point is that he now has serious psychosis. He was arrested for marijuana possession, after telling the cops where his marijuana was because he thought he could positively think his way out of it, and has been throwing out the notices about his court dates ever since. He has dropped out of college now, and I’m not sure what to do.

My awakening to the crazy world of self help and recovery from it’s vice like grip occurred after a quite fantastical and unique experience. One thing I have learned is that you cannot download anyone else’s ‘system’ or ‘process’ and make it work for you. I think you need to pick through each person’s life experiences for the wool to weave your own tapestry. Certainly with the money, time, energy and hopes invested in other people’s ego creations I could have weaved the Bayeux and then some!!!
What I can say though is that in a bid to understand my abusive childhood and how different I appeared to be from my family I embarked upon a 20 year quest to understand who and what I was. Yes, I fell, hook, line and sinker for the self help and personal development game.
More recently, over the last 10 years I have stuffed myself silly with Law of Attraction (LoA) type teachings that mainly block out anything negative or ‘not of the light’ and thus, have given my power away more or less to anyone with a cheering claim or nice smile. Then, even worse I started creating courses and taught them to other unsuspecting fools. Cringe worthy stuff called how to be happy and living the attitude of gratitude…(spewing into a bucket).
Yes, I was a spiritual prostitute except that I paid to turn tricks. God, put like that it is embarrassing and hysterical in equal measure.
Then, a catastrophe of epic proportions that turned all of the LOA stuff on it’s head, inside out and doing somersaults occurred!!!!
It would fill a book and then some and perhaps one day I will come across someone who wants to take it on. Certainly NBC Dateline wanted to make a 2 hour documentary around events that led from my catastrophe….
Well, your wondering what it was, aren’t you? Mmmmmm how to encapsulate the magnitude in a few paragraphs…(deep breath).
Essentially I met a psychopath (probably the physical manifestation of all the repressed and ignored negativity and blocked out critical thinking from the last 10 ‘positive’ years!!!).
I sunk every penny into a series of businesses with him, got into a hellish personal relationship with him that involved every kind of abuse and threats etc, helplessly watched him systematically destroy several other people and then once I had withdrawn from him and the businesses despite what was on the line (everything material I had) – saw him flee the UK leaving a quagmire of 103 serious problems that escalated into near bankruptcy, over 50 threatened court actions, insurance issues, tremendous weight gain and the utter desecration of everything I believed in. I was massively affected – physically, mentally, emotionally, sexually, financially and spiritually.
Essentially ‘I’ ceased to exist. I became a recluse, stayed away from everyone and everything except what I could not possibly avoid, stopped going out, answering the phone, showering, getting dressed. The only respite from the fireball of pain and stress engulfing EVERY facet of my life was the safety net of suicide. I knew I could kill myself. I longed for absolute annihilation! I didn’t just think it, I investigated the subject, formed a plan and came seconds away from carrying it out several times – stopped only by my love for my cats and who would care for them?
Without a doubt the worst aspect of all of the above was the belief I had created and attracted it. I spent nearly a year on a wild goose chase torturing myself further by trying to work out why and how a lifetime of positive thoughts and actions had created a monster and a monstrous situation that took 2 years hard time to resolve and was so permanently life changing…
There wasn’t any answers other than the LoA was either horse shit or used wrongly could be disastrous.
I stumbled upon your book which helped as it showed all the guru’s in meltdowns of their own, and I started looking at the shadow stuff that was all around me. For 8 months I delighted in oozing out every shred of anger and negative energy that had long been encased in the basement of my psyche until one day I realised that negative energy was not better or worse than it’s opposite – just different and that both are required for a reasonably happy existence. Duh…
I knew I was in recovery when my critical thinking skills began to creak into action again and I started reading novels (!!!). I have emerged back out into the sunlight but armed with self reliance that life goes up and down and around and around and ‘this too shall pass…’
Having been kicked out of society I feel quite content to potter around doing not very much. I take each moment as it comes. I delight in the joy that flows out of simple things but at the same time when I feel enraged or angry or pissed off I beat up my pouf fee and enjoy that just as much as all the smiling.
I am content to not know who/what is behind everything and to surrender to whatever pulled me through. Forgiveness has and is helping me with all that happened – even the near murderous hatred I feel towards lawyers (laughing).
Footnote: My former business partner Michael Lane went on to murder a woman in a particularly gruesome way and then tried to run over and kill a transsexual in the dead woman’s car. He is currently in Clark County Detention Centre, Vegas (where else?!) awaiting trial and possible death penalty next year.
Mmmmm not sure any of this would help anyone. Their may be a few ears of corn if you pick through… (raucous giggles).
Hope all in your world is dark and light!!!!

First author’s response
Thank you for sending me this, it is one of the most unfortunate side effects of believing in new age beliefs, that we want to spread it to others, and rather than helping them are actually spreading a virus. I’m reminded of the recent film Inception, where they say that the most contagious agent is an idea, it acts like a virus, and once it is planted it is very hard to get rid of. We live in an age of many crazy ideas manifested in tea partiers, global warming deniers, conspiracies of many kind and the like. I truly hope that critical thinking survives.
To update you on my brother. He still has not recanted, so to speak, and unfortunately he has withdrawn all the money from his trust fund, around 80,000 dollars, which is supposed to be used for his college education, and now has the resources to live on his own. Eventually I hope he will realize, and this person has, that he is delusional, but it’s a terrible, terrible waste. At the end of the day however, we can only live by example, and be there for those who realize their mistakes. You are doing important work. Thanks again.

Did you ever think that there may be no correlation to success and the LOA, I bet if you looked back, you were in fact doing different things and getting different results. It was the actions you took.

its a known fact way too many priests diddle with the little brother of underage boys. Yet people still attend mass.

Its a known fact that filing a W2, W4, 10w40 is a voluntary exercise, yet millions of emurdikan slaves do just that every year.

Beliefs are thoughts you simply keep repeating in your mental space, and over time, you buy in to it; whether it is for your greater good or not.

Financial institutions deal in the court venue all the time, yet you all trust these monetary scam artists with your paycheck. The stock market is known as being a well organized, well constructed scheme of monetary extraction through orchestrated movements of stock prices; yet you all use it to dream of a comfortable retirement in 401Ks and such.

a few court venue controversies because Byrne’s recent business partner talked her in to reneging on some promises, does not, repeat, DOES NOT reduce or impinge on the truth that your thoughts create your reality.

and if schadenfreude is all you have in response to this fundamental truth of earthly existence, which requires integrity, honesty, and honor, then by all means, dismiss it.
and get back to work. pay your taxes. watch TV. drink coke. vote. send your kids to school and continue with your limited existence.

By focus on do you actually mean take action towards, or do you mean sit around and think about? Why do people keep insisting that the sick and starving people of the world are thinking about and attracting sickness and starvation? Please provide us some evidence of this fact and we can begin to take you seriously.

I agree Gerry, it’s an extremely narcissistic view of the world, largely fostered by Oprah, that we control the workings of the universe through our thoughts.

Agreed, our attitudes and intentions are important to give us focus, but even with our best efforts and intentions life can send us a curve ball, and evil cowards can fly into a building and wipe out thousands of innocents in a flash.

Or did only those who practiced the true LoA die on 911? Or who were truly devoted to god in a particular way?

We can only do the best we can in a world where dog often eats dog, and the fittest tends to have the best chances of surviving. The world is not a fair place, thought I thing it is a matter for our own humanity to be as fair as we possibly can be, and then not to expect a return, indeed being in integrity can be very thankless, so I suggest not to expect much in return because you may be sorely disseminated if you are.

And yes, our focused thoughts largely are the fuel as to whether we are to succeed or fail, that is notwithstanding the odds, but a fighting determined spirit prepared to endure whatever challenges we are to face is even more important. But believing that we’ve got the workings of the universe all figured out, to my sensibilities at least, just doesn’t cut it. Or maybe I’m just old fashioned that way.

By focus on do you actually mean take action towards, or do you mean sit around and think about? Why do people keep insisting that the sick and starving people of the world are thinking about and attracting sickness and starvation? Please provide us some evidence of this fact and we can begin to take you seriously.

My thoughts on the above….from watching the DVD.

When people are starving and sick they continue to focus on being starving and sick….with thoughts like “I don’t want to be starving” or “I don’t want to be sick” rather then “I want food” or “I want to be healthy”

The DVD states that the LoA does not recognise negation. So to the LoA the thought….”I don’t want to be hungry” is interpreted as “I want hunger”.

It’s all about the phrasing….

I read a book once about how our thoughts, feelings and emotions are all hardwired to our brain.

So for example when we are tired….we tend to think thoughts like….I’m so tired, I’m shattered etc etc….

By thinking these thoughts you’re sending messages to the brain that you feel exhausted and as a result the feeling of tiredness is exacerbated and our eye lids start to get heavy etc etc..

The book teaches you to use positive thoughts, so for example, when you feel tired…..think to yourself…..”I need more energy!”

The idea is your brain will then send signals to your body to make you feel more alert and energised.

I can understand how when individuals are in desperate situations they focus more on the desperate situations they are in…..for example…starvation or sickness… A question for me would be how they ended up in that bad place to begin with??

On another note re the “Wishful Thinking” in terms of wishing for cash and not worrying about the how…

The DVD might be accused of contradiction on this point….

On one hand it says imagine having all this money visualise it and it will materialise…

Some people might take from that sentence that you simply have to wish for money and it will appear, however, this is a lazy approach and people do not really believe what they are wishing for, and consequently this will not materialise as there is no commitment.

For me, however, I took something else from the DVD, when one of the speakers started taking about how he thought about how he could make $100,000.

He clearly devoted some though as to what needed to be done in order to achieve his $100,000. I.e. by selling x number of books at x amount we will achieve $100,000.

Now…..my theory is that he did wish to have this money but he also believed it and felt it. Consequently thinking about “the how” was a by product of his vision.

That’s my thought on it….

I do not have any ideas on why people end up dead in natural disasters such as the tsunami, however, this has always been a subject of much debate in religion, for example.

I think that some of the messages within the DVD make sense, so my advice would be to take what works for you and ignore what you do not believe.

John, I live in Africa, and it’s apparent that the poorest folks here (and they are really poor) appear to be the happiest–at least when looking at issues such as suicides, hypertension, cancer, heart attack etc…

On the other hand, the author of the book Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff Richard Ohlson–a world renowned expert on stress, died of a heart problem and he was just over forty; Linda McCartney who pioneered healthy vegetarian diets died of cancer at just over forty.

In fact, so too Demartini’s wife of “the Secret” about a year before the movie in which he made these exaggerated claims on Health:

Our psychology gives us disease to give us feedback, to let us know we have an imbalanced perspective, or we’re not being loving and grateful. So the body’s signs and symptoms are not something terrible. I always say that incurable means incurable from within.

By this, is he say that his wife had an imbalanced perspective, and therefore she had contracted the disease?

I can cite many more, but the point being that they clearly had a vision for low stress, and good health, no negation there as they were particularly positive folks, but “the universe” nevertheless did not head there call.

The point I’m making is not against thinking positive or having bold visions, indeed you must if you are to achieve any greatness in your life.

However you’re deluding yourself if you think “The universe” or some or other esoteric force is going to smooth things over for you. If you also are to indeed succeed a significant amount of “negative thinking” will of necessity have go a long way to ensuring success. Most successful people are notoriously obsessive and compulsive (and in most cases mild to strongly obsessive compulsive) about what can go wrong, and only once they’ve figured out how to tie all they knots will they even begin to venture boldly forward.

The thing is, most ordinary folks are not enormously (though reasonably) successful because our visions are mere dreams, and if they do take very bold action, more often than not fall way short of the mark because they have not taken cognizance of the down side–such as an economic crisis for instance–because they were way too optimistic or hopeful about the outcome.

My advice is, if you have a bold vision for what you want to achieve–that’s opposed to a mere want such as having a vision for a Ferrari or a fancy house for they are bottomless pursuits that lead to endless dissatisfaction–first make sure that you spend as much, or even more, time visualizing all that can go wrong. And if you still have the stomach to proceed you may well stand a slight chance of join Trump and co…. And if not, sure, I agree, it’s nice to dream.

The problem as I see it is there are many negative successful people and positive unsuccessful people. I just do not think something like the loa can ever be proven. I know action works and I stick to it. I do think positively but as Newton so eloquently writes, I also plan for negative consequences and evaluate the downside. I can not be bothered with worrying about if I am manifesting right or sending the right thoughts out, when there is so much promise in action.

Succinctly put Gerry, thought I’d share this warning by Professor Dumbledore to Harry Potter which I think sums up your sentiments rather nicely:

[The mirror of Erised (Desire)] shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, more desperate desire of our hearts… However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge nor truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible… It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that…

Interesting how even wizards needs to be grounded with a healthy sense of reality.

Rhonda Byrne’s new book ‘The Power’ contains lame advice about “think of love around money”. Just looked at the book at the store and it is very very lame advice. Is book number two
for sale to pay for her legal bills?

“The Secret” by Rhonda byrne, contains several possible truths. I have learnt that several Indian religions which believe in omnipresence of divinity reflect the idea of law of attraction or law of materialization of thoughts when one is in a state of higher divinity. However, I was set to thinking again when after I recommended this book to dozens of my friends and relatives , who indeed read it and results were shocking! One of my friends went into severe depression. There were two more who evidently got their attitude and behaviour changed towards other people at work and at home. Since they have been so close and dear to me, I was left completely shocked and feeling guilty of having recommended the book to them. This was very disturbing. Perhaps the book gives too much optimism to its readers and they get jolted by the realities of life and are not able to cope up with them eventually. I stopped recommending this book “The secret” then on. Please read this book only if you have a tough mind. This is not for all!

I have learnt that several Indian religions which believe in omnipresence of divinity reflect the idea of law of attraction or law of materialization of thoughts when one is in a state of higher divinity.

I thought I’d share this extract from a discussion I had with an Indian blogger:

My Comment
In a way, Zen can be regarded as a form of LoA, except it requires a focus on the inputs not the outputs, i.e. what you put in sort of see’s to the results. But on the other hand it also is the very opposite of LoA, because believing that there will be an attraction in a way defeats Zen itself as there is a consciousness which requires one de-emphasizes the output that is being worked for—the keyword being detachment from the results. That’s my real gripe with the entire underlying philosophy of LoA, as it really can work against achieving what one actually wants because according to LoA the inputs – or the practice – is not important, only the outcome you desire.

Indian Blogger’s Response
Precisely. In the words of the Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 2, verse 47):

“You have a right to work (action), but not to the results thereof. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.”

In other words, you have no right to expect a particular consequence or result or fruit to follow from what you do. A later verse calls those motivated purely by fruits of action to be “miserable, narrow minded, wretched”

A wise king was direct: “The one always wishing to collect the fruits of his moral excellence makes a pitiful trade with virtue”.

In my book I explain why The Secret is the very antithesis to this view, but moreover why it leads either to depression or madness—the byproduct of delusion, and usually results when a dressing reality is being avoided.

Incidentally, depression is not a sign of a week mind as it is only the strong that can face reality and to move on insodoing to face the pain of letting go of a destructive delusion. And when looking at the five stages of grief, the process of accepting the changed reality usually manifests as depression, in fact we grow to higher stages of enlightenment through various periods of depression. And interestingly it usually is the week who are not brave enough to face this specter of coming to terms with reality, rather to prefer to remain in a pain free state of perpetual childhood delusion, and will rather seek all forms of medication (drugs, alcohol, pain-killers, food, sex, “The Secret”) never to have to ever face reality for what it actually may be…

I just finished reading The Power by the same author and it’s a gem of a book! Basically she’s saying the same thing as Wallace Wattles in his book ‘The Science of Getting Rich’. She talks more about the power of love and gratitude. I’ve been putting this into practice these past few days and it’s making a ms difference in my life. I’m taking the time to actually See the things around all about me and I’m just beginning to realize that there is so much to be grateful for. There’s magic all around us. Rhonda promises that when you’re in that flow that Love has no choice but to fulfill our dreams but the amazing thing is, I’m having such a great time just feeling the newness of everything I can’t really get too much into forming images in my head and focusing on a ‘wish list’. It’s too much work! I just want to enjoy Now! So in my opinion it’s thumbs up to Rhonda . I wish her all the best. Sorry for errors. I’m using my IPod as my computer is acting up. It’s been interesting reading all the comments though. I guess we all do see things differently.
a

Steffany, you seem quite enamored with your new acquisition, and I certainly can’t argue about the new book as I’ve not read it. And God knows, the world can do with a lot more gratitude. Many people have written about it though, and I’m all for gratitude journals, and practicing unconditional love on trees and plants (though it is a little bit more difficult with pets and humans who has a little bit more of a mind of their own). But if “The Power” states that, because your showing more love and gratitude will result in the universe doing your bidding for you, instead of, because of your improved attitude the world would be more keen to assist you (although the sharks may also think here’s a gullible tidbit for late afternoon lunch), then I politely will rest my case, and say, it seems to be more of the same old snake oil misses Byrne wants to peddle to her unsuspecting prey…

Thanks for your concern, Newton. I have no intention of becoming shark food. Just not a concern. But if there’s one thing I have learned in this life it’s that what you put out you get back, only more of. If you say or do things that hurt others you will bring that back to yourself. If you are feeling good about yourself and this life then this is what you’ll put out,and will get more of the same back. It’s universal law and it applies to all whether we believe or don’t believe.

Steffany, you are entitled to have any belief system you wish, and if this is what it takes to motivate you to be a better person, so be it. The only reason I’m bothering to even respond is to advance the argument because I personally think it’s a limited and extremely offensive view of the world. Another word that comes to mind is narcissistic.

For instance, if one is to follow your logic, then bad things should not happen to good people, and so the more than three thousand people who died in the World Trade Center (including the firemen who selflessly went in to rescue them), could only have been the less than deserving (or bad) people . This would be the logical conclusion using your logic, or how else did they attract the terrorists to blow up them up, and not others. And of course the counter to this, is that those who survived surely must have sent better vibes into the universe than the unfortunate one’s who perished… Particularly since you say that “it applies to all whether we choose to believe or not.”

And what about the holocaust? And cancer? And personal tragedies? And natural disasters?…

The overall point I’m making is that truly good people do the right things not because they expect a reward from God or “the universe” in return, but rather, because it’s the right thing to do. And often bad things do happen to them because of their selfless choices—such as Nate Henn who helped with aid efforts in Africa but was killed in an Al Qaida bombing three months ago in Uganda. And to compound the tragedy, his brother Kyle in a plane crash on his way home.

What did his family do to deserve this, was their aid not worthy of “the Universe”? Or did they not provide it with the proper vibrations?

And of course, what about those who do these despicable bombings believing, it seems as unequivocally as you do, that they will be met by 72 virgins in heaven? So making up for their largely unfulfilled earthly lives by having made the ultimate humanly sacrifice.

Or maybe, it happened because he did not unconsciously apply the law as correctly as you do?

Sorry for being so flippant, but to my less informed way of thinking, doing the right things because you expect a return from the universe smacks very much of an attempt at manipulation, and which I’m certain, “The Universe” would definitely detect given the powers you so confidently ascribe to it.

Hmm. Interesting you got all that just from my comments. Maybe I want to do the right thing simply because it makes me feel good, and that feeling good is gift enough! This Law of Attraction thing has you in a real spin for some reason, Newton, and I have to wonder why. But here’s an idea. Try writing something positive and uplifting about someone, because this world already has more than its fair share of haters. Maybe that in turn will make you a happier person. It’s worth a try don’t you think?

Steffany, my personal view is that The Secret is a massive con, and therefore I’m exposing people to it to the extent that I’ve written a book about it.

And it’s interesting how you indicate that I should be more positive when I allude to the monstrous implications of what you had said, and moreover, that you wish to pawn it off as fact. By that you are implying that someone who had good information about Bernie Madoff too, should ratherhave kept it to themselves than to alert his victims of it as they would rather not have wanted their temporary happiness of their then delusion to have been destroyed. This, focusing on the positive (or the riches you will fain, usually is the standard ploy used by con-artist of various kinds…

About being unhappy, what an assumption, and I certainly don’t need to convince you of the error of your assumption except to say that: I’ll be happiliy 43, on 20/10/2010 while people can’t believe I’m a day over thirty (the picture I use on my website was when I turned 40); I’m happlily married for more than 21 years; my two kids are both happy and well adjusted young adults; I’m happy with my job as a lecturer where more than 80% of my class is from under-priveladged backgrounds–bearing in mind that I live in Africa. Belive me, I’m not an unhappy person, but you’re welcome to take a look at this as well if this is not enough…

BTW, I teach my students to have a critical mind, which FYI, requires one first investigate the downside (or the negative) before making a constructive plan as to how it can be overcome (or whether it is even wize to begin with), and not to look at the world through rozy coloured glasses as this is the surest path to failure, world financial crisis included and how the USA and it’s pre-recession mindset dumped the entire world in the economic quagmire we’re still finding ourselves in today….

It is like having the Universe as your catalogue. You flip through it and say, “I’d like to have this experience and I’d like to have that product and I’d like to have a person like that.” It is you placing your order with the Universe. It’s really that easy.

Not as you alluded to, that you’re feeling good because you’ve done some good in the world–that after all should be common sense, we don’t need to invent the idea of an LoA to tell us that.

But moreover, why I’m as vociferous about this, is that, as we are debating this many people are dying because they’ve stopped taking medication in the belief The Secret will save them, are loosing their life-savings because they had failed to take the necessary precatuions with their spending, have fallen into depression as the universe had not delivered to their expectations; all because they had bought into this bankrupt philosophy, expecting the universe to take care of their troubles by simply placing an order with it.

And sure, it pisses me off that we allow the likes of Byrne to get away with selling this crap…

The law of attraction does work, and if it has not worked for you, it means you have not been using it right. And concerning the aspect of WORK or just WISHING and the universe does the work- the book does not say the law would make you get what ever you want by just sitting in your palour sipping coke and wishing for a private jet; it says it would bring people, circumstances and events that would lead you to your desire- thus, you still have to work. The reason why it says you should not think of the HOW is because at the level you are, your brain has been built to believe those your desires are impossible, so it would never come up with anyway for you to actualize them. But when you visualize on the end result, the universe goes to work to connect you with the people, events and circumstances that make it possible. I am from Nigeria in africa, and i can say the law of attraction has helped me a great deal. After i read THE SECRET earlier this year, i have materialized a tone of things that i never thought possible- one of which is the SAMSUNG CORBY phone i am typing this comment on right now.

Kayode, I live in Africa too, and far too often I hear of babies being butchered for muti (the harvesting of body parts for sacrificial prayer to find a mate or appease the spirits or shake off one’s bad luck) that I suppose a belief that the universe will assist one in achieving one’s goals is a far better alternative.

And if that is what it takes for you to achieve what you want, so be it.I would also not have bothered to answer you because I do not necessarily wish to change your mind, but rather to forward the argument. You must understand that our brain is avery powerful goal-seeking device, and if you set a believable and realistic goal, will subconsciously search for all manner and means to achieve it for you. The downside of The Secret, is that it will subvert this powerful ability, and you will spend much of this capacity proving the belief to be true — that is in unconsciously seeking for ‘evidence’ of how the universe had assisted you— than actually realistically achieving your goals. So ignoring that it was all your doing (by virtue of your attitude and effort)all along. This will more than likely make one crazy–or as the newsweek article of “The Power” sugessts, psychotic–because when things do not go according plan, you’ll be trying to figure out how your thinking had let you down because according to Byrne “it’s the greatest and the most infallible law upon which the entire system of creation depends”. And it’s just as bad when things go right as you will now justify how one had–like a magician–manifested it.

About the work part, I really don’t get that from the book at all. For instance this is an extract from the book:

How long will it take to manifest the car, the relationship, the money? I don’t have any rulebook that says it’s going to take thirty minutes or thirty hours or thirty days.
It’s more a matter of you being in alignment with the universe itself…Size is nothing to the universe. It is no more to attract on a scientific level, something we consider huge to something that we consider infinitesimally small.
The Universe does everything with zero effortt… There are no rules according to the Universe. You provide the feelings of having it now; it will respond—whatever it is. There is no time for the universe and there is no size for the Universe.

And this:

You don’t have to fight to get rid of disease. Just the simple process of letting go of negative thoughts will allow your natural state of health to emerge within you. And your body will heal itself.

Note, you don’t have to fight to get rid of disease. How many people had actually died because they believed this to be true?

It’s easy to exploit the dying and diseased by giving them such false hope. And even Oprah had to give a public warning that people should continue with their medication because of this, but how many people actually died.

So no, this belief is not truly about working to get what you want at all, but the universe and the LoA magically manifesting it for us.

You ROCK!!! I really love the succint way you write about living positively regardless of the circumstances of your life and couldn’t agree more. Believing in the new age prosperity thinking (along with some bad luck) led me down a bigtime abyss of depression to the point of contemplating suicide. Thankfully that is behind me now. I made a mistake, and now truly value the power of realism and living positively.

Kathy, thank you so much for your generous comment, and even I could not have summed up the intent of the book as you did. And I’m so glad you had the fortitude to pull yourself into the light… unfortunately so many lack your courage…
BTW, I hope you don’t mind that I use your comment in my book.

Newton,
If you are going to write a book, it might help if you learned to spell correctly. After two paragraphs, I couldn’t take all the misspelled words and poor grammar anymore. Then I saw you were a writer at Salon.com and that explains everything. Lefty lunatic.

Those who don’t think the Law of Attraction or Law of Love don’t work you better think again! Just take a few minutes and think of the things that are going on in your life or things that you didn’t like were going on in your life. Why were those things happening? Probably because of your thoughts! Just saying…..

Yep, that we create reality merely by thinking it so must be so. It probably then explains the devastating floods in Queensland and that in Byrne’s homestate of Victoria or the latest earthquakes in New Zealand. And I’m certain only the least loving with the impurest of thoughts sucumbed while there were no casualities who diligently practiced the LoA and LoL.

This off course would include 13 year old Jordan Rice, who selflessly chose to succumb to the raging floodwaters to save his brother?

Then again, perhaps the LoL does not apply to the self-sacrificing kind of love?

See, this type of message of Byrne’s is the classic example of the fable of “The emperor’s New Clothes”, where if you buy into a delusional idea, you will only see evidence in support, while oblivious to you, notwithstanding that your world may in reality be falling apart around you. It is the classic con where the “if it is too good to be true, it’s usually to good to be true” idea is the one that should come to your immediate mental rescue.

What should be realized is this: Definitely love more, but don’t love as if there is a law.

And it is particularly so if it is associated with a law guaranteeing a return on that love, for then all it truly is is the very antithesis as0f love as it truly amounts to nothing but pure manipulation (as psychopaths and sociopaths do), and where the biggest looser usually is one’s state of mind.

The secret and The Power both have really changed my life, from you don’t want to know, to a life full of joy and happiness all around me. If some of you could just for a moment listen to what The Secret has to say and apply it into your life, I promise you, your life WILL change forever. Forget about all your big big theories, listen for a change, not everyone is out to get you in life, go in with that mind set and you will learn allot.

Muhamed, no doubt you’re happy, but that’s the whole idea. I wasn’t going to respond to this as your being happy is your own business, and if it works for you, then good and well, but when I received the following mail posted to my wife I thought I should.

(Note that the original was significantly spaced out for dramatic effect)

It’s from an acquaintance who also were greatly enamored by The Secret a few years ago (and still appears to be), just before her world came crashing in on her. She lost her job, then her home, and now is working in a far less comfortable environment at half her previous income. I thought this experience would have awoken her to the foolery at play, but alas, as the mail attests to (lo-and-behold, it was sent to ten other people as well, so she must have diligently followed the instructions), it seems she did not take any heed. I personally think it’s a spoof, attempting to see how many gullible people would actually fall for it.

This is why depression and happiness (usually associated with the delusion that all is well) is so delicately intertwined, depression being associated with the eventual awakening to the reality of what actual may be transpiring notwithstanding our wishing and hoping and believing it was something else.

Interesting conversations here for sure. I finally watched The Secret this morning because it was streaming on NetFlix. So take this for what it’s worth (almost 5 years after the movie was released lol). Most of the reviews I’ve read in the past about The Secret indicated it was just a really smart marketing ploy; I would agree there was a lot of hype and not that much groundbreaking information if you will. . . Having said that, I have had a few successful visualizations in the past without really even knowing about the so called “laws of attraction.” Next if you want to be happy, focus on and do things that make you happy (as long as you’re not hurting anyone else) . . . As far as thoughts becoming things, this ‘might’ be possible. You really have to ask yourself though, to what extent do my own personal thoughts create my reality? Are these your own thoughts, or are they other’s thoughts you have chosen to accept and integrate in your own reality? Where is the line? For me, The Secret has confirmed that critical thinking is perhaps more important than ever. There’s not always one right path to get to your destination. I hope people will continue to think critically about this movie, rather than just accept it as 100% truth.

The Secret was not a lot of extra special anything, Viral marketing, Yes. Brilliant, in my opinion! I only wish I could think of some way to make that many people feel good – But most of what was said in the book and the movie were, as she put it, ideas and concepts that have been around for centuries.

She didn’t reinvent the wheel she merely repackaged many of the principles of the Bible/ Torah and Quran.

I felt it was a beautiful way to introduce people to a different way to see the world without alienating anyone. By not saying God or The Creator – she can say “The Power” brings all to existence and “The Power” did this for me and brought things to my life – She then followed that by explaining that “The Power” is Love and for those that know, God is Love. Now if her book and the movie replaced everyspot that she said “The Power” and said, “God” her book would not fly off the shelves as fast I believe and this messages would be from a totally different bunch of people. Not to mention she would have gotten lost in the masses of other Preachers. She stepped herself infront with her repackaging.

Interesting view, and indeed, I agree that it’s brilliant marketing, and she sure is reaping the reward of just that.

But let’s be frank, neither The Secret nor The Power has anything to do with religion or religious values, but rather, a very clever spin on them. And what it feeds on is not human goodness, but on human greed and narcissism.

For instance, the bible says “love thy neighbor as you love thyself” for its own sake, simply because that is what is required to be a good and decent human being. While what The Power actually infers is “if you wish good things upon yourself, then love thy neighbor a little more than you currently are doing, and the world will revolve even more around you than it currently does”.

In the final analysis, when thinking about what Byrne in The Secret, then she implies that the young innocent victims who died in the horrific attacks in Norway last week “had to be on the same frequency as the event” in order to have attracted it. Or when looking at The Power, that they had provoked the unloving actions of the madman who killed them as they could not have exuded abundant love since “the law of love works just as the law of gravitation works whether we accept it or not”.

The way I see it, one may very well believe in the devil if your view is that this way of thinking has anything to do with any respectable religion.

Great stuff being discussed here. Now listen carefully: As Above, So Below. As Below, So Above. When science has proven the existence of say, a small triangle ( I’d rather not steal from Plato’s description of Socrates proving the existence of a square]), then they have also proven the existence of a larger triangle (see “similar triangles”). No smaller triangle….no larger triangle! Maybe I think I have formed a small triangle? If I am mistaken, then there can’t very well exist the larger triangle–one that was was failed, absolutely. Maybe our friends the experimenters failed to create triangles because they knew not of the true nature of the triangle? A triangle is a triangle whether it be observed from the living room or on the moon. The student of the Secret may indeed benefit if they first come to understand the nature of the triangle, and there are many works dedicated to such explanation. The student would of course need to begin with addition and subtraction. Should they come to rest before learning multiplication and division, they will surely fail to even truly desire to make manifest a triangle, let alone one that is similar but larger.

ok then can any of u explain some things like the sinking happening of titanic , n the fact that i attracted a partner exactly the same as the one i attracted,similar character,similar name,similar place of meeting for the first time,etc

i m not critisicing all of u.of course some negative happened to me while i thought i was thinking positive but i later realise that i was negative. n the whole point is about r’s ungratefulness but think it over n u are the ungrateful one’s..rhondha has done what no one else. she gave hope n light through the secret teachers.but ofcourse u think that u know better than a billion people mariana

Mariana, we surely are becoming psychotic or losing our mind when we attempt to how a positive event which occurred is linked to a particular set of positive thoughts. And similarly how negative occurrences had resulted because we may have been thinking negatively during any particular period of time.

How can this be done, do one have to take notes of the thinking during a particular period, and then relate this thinking back to the event?

Quite frankly all Byrne has done is make a lot of people psychotic and delded. Unfortunately those that buy into the con spend most of their potentially productive time time convincing themselves that there is a LoA, and that when things do not go according to their wishes, that they therefore must’ve had negative thoughts which resulted in the undesirable attraction. This is classic brainwashing where one becomes convinced of how one had done the negative thing to oneself.

On the other hand it ceases to be psychosis when we do the same exercise—that is looking retrospectively at the outcome—but instead we look at how our positive or negative actions we had direct control over had resulted in any particular outcome of our lives. And indeed, very often positive actions results in negative consequences as well. We just don’t have direct control regardless of our attempts at manipulating the universe, that is, regardless of whether we think we are doing it with our thoughts, albeit that we are markedly more successful with our actions. To think we do is downright delusional.

I’m not arguing against that we live in an amazing universe that we cannot fully explain and that magic does happen more often than we may think, the greatest testimony to this is the very fact that you’re alive, and we can have this interaction even though we are thousands of miles away. Read The Dance of Life, an extract from my manuscript Read About Life—Understanding Existence.

Here’s a short extract:

Once you have quietened the chaos in your mind, you can begin to perceive that the universe seeks order at almost every conceivable level. Then it will be apparent that the events around you have greater significance. You will note that similar events will coincide…

However, had they instead stopped and looked back at every such ‘coincidence’ they observed incalculably many times before with a sense of incredulity, a different picture would’ve emerged. They then would realise that the single chance occurrence is diminished by the magnitude of every single such extraordinary event that may have been perceived as mere arbitrary coincidences.

And because of the awe at the impossibility of it all, to have concluded that they are part of a wondrous dance that moves in tune with the rhythm of life. But since the moment was not seized, but rather to feel compelled to manipulate every direction they are to take that their partner on the other side of creation has no part in. This is not dancing in any way at all; it is controlling. For the best way to truly dance is in one’s ability to let go, and to begin to flow to the rhythm of life. Being completely unaware of who may be leading the way. You or something far more significant than your singular isolated being.

But also to know that in dancing, despite having to let go, you do have a hand in the direction you are to take, and the turns you are to make. Finding that you and your partner are somehow heading in the same direction.

And while letting go, enjoying the sheer marvellous miracle in something as seemingly obscure as a dance.

sean said the best thing so far. Newton has closed his mind, so there is nothing to be said to change his mind. You can say all the negative u want, it doesnt take away the fact that the law of attraction is a law. I guess pple just havent gotten a hold of it. Remember esther hicks talking about the emotional guidiance system in some part of the secret…thats the part pple have to understand to make it work in their lives. Thoughts do become things…your thoughts become your reality. But if you are thinking.of getting a good life, and you are thinking in terms of limitation and how impossible it might be for u to get it. then u are thinking of lack of it, which means u are in the negative frequency, and u can only get negative in return. That’s what a lot of people don’t understand, and that’s where people miss it.

One thing I’ve learned is never to argue against religious fundamentalists as it is exasperating, and 10 out 10 times there would be no real rational exchange for both parties. Another is to argue with anyone who claims that there is an absolute law that guarantees our wishes and desires will be unequivocally met if we just emit positive vibrations into the universe. Believe me, I wish the world was that simple and fairytale-like…

And furthermore, that this supposedly ubiquitous law had been formulated as a result of someone’s figment of their imagination. Or I suppose you are going to argue that Esther Hicks channelling her “Abraham” is a credible way to base an “incontestable” law of nature on. To put it bluntly, the “guy” who supposedly said that it was so—Abrahan—is not even real, only truly existing in Esther’s head, and therefore that we must base this on hearsay—if you can call it that?

Don’t you think one should base one’s sense of reality—in other words, one’s sanity—to a sterner standard than that?

So please don’t tell something is an irrefutable law of nature just because Abraham (aka Esther hicks) says it’s so.

But if that is what you want to base you reality on and that it gives you comfort, so be it. I’m not arguing to change your mind but merely to forward my opinion for those who are open-minded enough to actually read it in order to then judge it fairly for them to be critical enough about both sides to make up their own mind.

If a stranger thought you how to ride a bike, does it mean she/he created the feeling you get from riding a bike? Or does it mean she created a bike. All these pple claimed they invented any laws.

And on your illusion theory, i can also say u r psychotic and think everything has to be hard. Atleast if i am psychotic, i get good results from it. The thing is, this world is one big illusion anyway. Believe in a belief and that belief will work for you. As long as i am not hurting another human being, i am okay.

On your doubts, if our thoughts dont create our reality, how do explain how i wrote the first chapter of a real-time story of mysekf, and came to life the next day…the very next day. Exactly how i wrote. U wanted to put the law to the test. Explain another possibility of that being a chance occurence, and i might just agree with you.

As I indicated, I do not wish to change your mind, but you’ve made my point by your last post by saying “This world is one big illusion anyway”.

The fact is that reality is reality and illusion is illusion—it has something to do with the imagination, and therefore imaginary, and not real.

Just try jumping off a ten story building believing that the world is an illusion and you will see what I mean. You will be reduced to a pulp despite your positive thoughts or your definition of reality. Most insane people live in asylums because they prefer not to let go of their fantasy’s and rather to remain as infants in a perpetual state of bliss.

But let me give you the medical definition of psychosis:“ the loss of contact with reality including having distorted beliefs about the nature of reality and having an incoherent sense of one’s actual power to affect the world around one”

Maybe I am psychotic, but you see, you cannot call that based on what I have argued in this thread as I’ve argued that we base our action on fact, not someone else’s fiction or uncorroborated claims. But clearly based on what you are attempting to do, even linking your good fortune to a supposed writing the day before, certainly rings true to me.

Or do you think you’re some sort of modern-day witch doctor or something?

See, I don’t need accept your fantastical account or make logical sense of what you are claiming. While you are claiming these wondrous things I simply choose to be indifferent to what you’re saying simply because I don’t know you and didn’t see it happen. Like Hicks and Byrne, there are thousands of people claiming all sorts of things, and a great many things are either hoxes, con’s, while a great many are just crazies make extraordinary claims based on pure fiction.

But moreover because what you are claiming fits the above definition: that you are indeed attempting to see how your good fortune may be linked to how you magically had manifested it out of thin air—that is merely be thinking it—i.e. >“the loss of contact with reality including having an incoherent sense of one’s actual power to affect the world around one” .

Try counting your blessings for a change. And at least consider that the most precious gift you can ever have or be given, is your sanity.

u sound like u r disheartened newton. if it does not work once.so what try again. what godric says is true.it works for me every single time. we have a lesson of probability on maths book n guess who dumbfounded his friends by tossing1 unbiassed coins 25 times n got heads all the time. n i have done that lots of time.of course they thought it was magic until i actually predicted the absence of teachers on the school a couple of times and the time i brought an umbrella on school on a sunny day and i manifested a total downpour n a girl said i had a weather forecasting ability.newton like you i was a show-me-if-you-want-me-to-believe-you type of person. so i think i know how u feel.if u don’t believe in the secret then i recommend the greatest salesman in the world… it has nothing to do with law of attraction but it’s great

great kayode.. guess what. i scripted about a chess set dad bought before he even bought it. and i never asked him to buy it mind you. i returned home n was greeted by a chess set on my study table.cool huh? i was so convinced i started scripting about a new car and i got in 3 days after that. the modal was better than the one i attracted.i m from india. i guess you know who M.K..Gandhi is. he said “fullest life is impossible without a living faith in a living law in obedience to which the whole universe moves.”

Peter, thanks for sharing that information, it just made me feel more enthusiastic about the whole thing. And yes i do know Ghandi…a great man he was.

Albert, i have helped someone out of this same problem before, so i know what is wrong. The problem is from you…you might have a feeling of worthlessness deep down in your subcoonscious mind that you do not know about. And you are probably sending that out concerning the girl, and that’s what you would be getting in return. To rephrase- somewhere in your subconscious mind, there is a belief that you are not good enough or don’t deserve the girl. If you don’t tackle this, you would keep getting the same results. To rewire this- every night before you go to bed, just as you are falling into that drowsy state, say this repeatedly out load- I am good enough for kate, and she likes me just the way i am. Ofcos you replace the name i put up with the girl’s name. If you cant say that out loud because of people around you, record it on your phone, and listen to it on repeat for 5minutes before you fall asleep. Don’t miss a day of doing this and i guarantee she will change her ways towards you within 2 weeks. One more thing, stop trying to make her fall in love with you. Just do what i told you, and be the best “you” you can be during this period. And make sure you come back here to share your results. This might just be the story that might change newton’s views.

Peter, you’ve “tossed 1 unbiassed coins 25 times n got heads all the time “, you must be quite a hoot at your local slot machine, and it sounds as if you can make a very decent living from just doing magic tricks. But again, you’re even more prolific with your claims than Kayode.

And you say you’re from India. Let me see what the Gita has to say about your attempts at manifestation.

Bhagavad-Gita (Chapter 2, verse 47):
“Karmanya vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana
Ma karma-phala-hetur bhu ma te sango stav karmani”
“You have a right to work (action), but not to the results thereof. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.”

In other words, you have no right to expect a particular consequence or result or fruit to follow from what you do (work), let alone your attempt at spontaneous manifestation. A later verse calls those motivated purely by fruits of action to be “miserable, narrow minded, wretched”

The wise king Yudhishthira was more direct:

“The one always wishing to collect the fruits of his moral excellence makes a pitiful trade with virtue”.

And you’re bringing Ghandi into it? I’m sure your country would have been liberated without shedding a single drop of blood, including that of Ghandi, if you were Ghandi’s sidekick at the time?

Kayode, now you’re talking about something I can relate to, it’s called Neur- Lingusitic Programming (NLP), and it’s an attempt at changing your neurological pathways.

The result may well be that you will become more confident around the girl, or just a little more chilled and you will exude a temperament which she may find attractive . It may also work the other way and you become even more anxious—Viennese psychologist referred to it as hyperintention. That is happens when you become too preoccupied with the outcome, and just as your visualisations actually suggest.

On the other hand the girl may just not dig your despite your ridiculous attempts and I would advise you to move on. Ultimately love is not love if it as a result of some sort of manipulation.

Either way, it is not the universe that is doing it but the fact that you have changed your temperament which will give you at least far better odds. But there are many other ways to get the same result. Again, the best results occur when you keep it real…

Notice how the icons change when a new person posts a comment, and that the same icon remains for the same email address throughout this thread. So for instance if I changed my name but used the same email address the icon would stay the same.

Notice that Peter and Albert have the same icons immediately after each other? Normally the system would automatically change them.

Also, it is easy to have a conversation with yourself to convice others that your claims are ligitimate if you have two email addresses.

Also, Kayode, I notice you’re from Nigeria.

No offense intended as I have a number of Nigerian students and colleagues and they all are honourable. It however doesn’t escape the fact that the greatest number of scam artists operate from there. Even Oprah had a special show about how they do it, and that Americans are the number one group of people they con, and that the scamsters refer to them mugu’s (big fools).

No offense intended to you as I don’t know you, but that your claims are ridiculous, so therefore I choose not to pay them any heed, and particular because they are so audacious do not trust your bona fides.

See this post as a public service announcement for anyone not wanting to become a mugu.

Newton, so you chose to discredit my claims based on where i am from? Well, i have nothing to say. Who ever wants to pay less or no attention to my replies because of what you just posted is welcome…and you are welcome too- thank you.

I read the book, watched the DVD twice, tried out and thought about the whole thing for nearly one year. I conclusded if this theory/law of attraction were true, it would be fair to say:

1. workers of the Twin Towers attracted the terrorist attack of 9/11
2. the Japanese desired the tsunami and disaster of Fukushima
3. home buyers around the globe wished the banks to collapse and financial crisis to happen so they would risk homelessness and debt
4. the Jews wanted Hitler’s genocidal campaign against them
5. the Jewish blockade on Palestine is the desire of the Palestinians
6. poverty and famine come because people wish it upon themselves
7. Abraham Lincoln, JFK, Martin Luther King and Jesus all meditated on their own assassinations

No offense meant but Rhonda Byrne’s expertise is PR, the fine art of manipulating people into believing politicians are messiahs, murderers are heroes, perpetrators are victims and lies are truths. Esoteric matters of the universe are best left to those fully qualified to explain them.

@ newton one last word to the great scientist.stop blaming kayode. my name is peter and i used albert just out of fun..by the way there are no slot machines in manipur. and i am underage so i can’t just start gambling with cards’can i?.:-) and marc i suggest you read the secret more thoroughly… it’s not only desires that brings about manifestation… i read about a bus accident and was thinking of what i would do if that happened to our school bus and was really scared and guess what BANG! fear and expectation of the unwanted draws things into your life.and i guess u have heard that lincoln had a dream of himself dead the day the tragedy happened.. and japanese are continually reminded of calamities like the nuclear bombs and so they are afraid n expect calamities and u probably heard what’s been happening to them..and there was a manipuri film director who gave his hat to a kid telling him to keep it as a reminder of him after he died and it is a known fact to us that he once said that he will be the third to die in his locality and he died soon after because his bike lost control when he was returning home from a friend’s house and he was found dead on the foot of a statue of a manipuri martyr.ok if you don’t believe me see what happens when you combine fear with expectation..

um! newton i think i am the one studying ghandi’s teaching .. since u are using so much of your time trying to prove a universal law doesn’t exist because you say so…why don’t you look up gandi’s lecture on “need for religion’.what i said is found in the last part in my text book.ah! but what am i thinking.you can’t teach and old dog new tricks…especially one that is blind and deaf khi khi khi

i don’t think this kind of knowledge will get delivered for everyone, even if it was in front of there eyes, they will always come up with a lot of crappy nonsense to prevent themselves from getting the infinite control over there life, and as for me the receiving of this knowledge is a lot more complicated than just telling it to someone,

it works…u can believe it or not but my question is what’s wrong in trying,really trying . skepticism is sometimes good.but why argue with the law and the believers when u know deep down that it works… i have been on both sides..and i can tell you that it works better when u believe.. some of you,i beg your pardon,haven’t even gone through the book even once and you are skeptic.. i think you actually desperately want to believe and that you want us to affirm it to you that its true… than let me tell you truthfully,it’s true and it works

[...] this world is effect, and that includes your feelings. The cause is always your thoughts.” (this was quoted from this blog from back in 2008, where you can see that she doesn’t seem to be thinking so positively when [...]